The current study examined the effects of text-based relational (i.e., cohesion), propositional-specific (i.e., lexical), and syntactic features in a source text on subsequent integration of the source text in spoken responses. It further investigated the effects of word integration on human ratings of speaking performance while taking into…

This paper reports on a study to predict students at risk of failing based on data available prior to commencement of first year. The study was conducted over three years, 2010 to 2012, on a student population from a range of academic disciplines, n=1,207. Data was gathered from both student enrollment data and an online, self-reporting,…

Explicit instruction in strategies for interlanguage pragmatic learning is fundamental to the development of a comprehensive set of pragmatic abilities in the target language. In this article, we begin by providing an overview of previous work in the area of language learner strategies directed at the teaching and learning of pragmatics. We then…

Heritage language speakers struggle in European classrooms with insufficient material provided for second language (SL) learning and assessment. Considering the amount of instruments and pertinent studies in English SL, immigrant students are better prepared than their peers in Romance language settings. This study investigates how factors such as…

Category learning can be achieved by identifying common features among category members, distinctive features among non-members, or both. These processes are psychologically and computationally distinct, and may have implications for the acquisition of categories at different hierarchical levels. The present study examines an account of children's…

The present research investigated the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies by 60 young and 90 adult learners of different levels of education across different fields of study. The intermediate level young participants included junior-high and senior-high school learners between the ages of 14 and 17. The high-intermediate adult…

This study investigated taxonomic clustering and use of frequency associations as features in the semantic memory of children (n=30 in grades two and six) with learning disabilities (LD). Results suggested that, when individual child-generated word lists (i.e., meaningful) are used, children with LD may not be impaired in their ability to utilize…

Examined whether a sample of variability measures could be reduced to a smaller number of factors with 8 independent samples of second through fourth graders and adults. Found that a 2-factor model of strategy diversity and strategy change was supported for all samples. Strategy diversity positively related to children's recall; strategy change…

Attempted to determine whether 170 third and sixth graders would benefit from the simultaneous use of 2 mnemonic strategies. Findings suggest that categorical sorting and active rehearsal combine to facilitate recall performance. (RJC)

Comparison of the free recall of learning-disabled (N=24) and non-disabled (N=24) eight- and ten-year-old readers during directive and nondirective encoding conditions found that both groups recalled more semantically- than nonsemantically-organized items. Learning-disabled readers preferred to encode categorically-organized items nonsemantically…

Tested 32 4-year-olds and 32 6-year-olds for free and cued recall following either play-and-remember or sort-and-remember instructions and assessed them for their metamemory of the efficacy of conceptual and perceptual sorting strategies. Younger children recalled more items under sort-and-remember, whereas no recall differences were found for the…

Investigated 48 preschool, kindergarten, and first grade children's use of perceptual and taxonomic memory organization strategies. Addressed age differences in qualities, coordination, and effectiveness of study and retrieval organization strategies, and age and individual differences in relationships between memory knowledge and strategy use.…

Recall of "to-be-remembered items" benefited from schematically related, superordinate, and slot filler cues, but not coordinate cues. The relative strength of different relationships does not appear to change with age. Findings are consistent with the view that lexical memory is schematically and taxonomically organized from early…

Effects of task demands, age, and skill level on memory and metamemory performance were examined for 62 average and 66 low-achieving learning-disabled children. Memory improved with age and skill level, and strategic metamemory revealed age and skill-level differences, but taxonomic metamemory revealed age differences in the average group only.…

Self-directed, or independent study activities were studied in adolescents, as well as their antecedents and consequences. The interrelationships, across age and grade, of several variables were described; i.e.: course requirements and conditions, student characteristics, study activities, and school achievement. First, autonomous learning…